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Geocache Description:

The cache is not at the map coordinate. This is a pictocache that will take you through the heart of downtown Waterloo. The container is a nanno that was a gift from Blue Grass Tom. He hid it after he stopped by my WRBA TB VAULT then e-mailed me a puzzle which led me to it.

After researching where to take the pictures for a downtown Waterloo pictocache I decided on a patriotic theme. I wanted to honor my father-in-law and dedicate my little gift to all those men and women - like Mark D. Scroggy who fought in the Civil War - and others that have served in our armed forces to preserve our Union and to make sure that we may continue to live and pursue happiness in a republic that is free and democratic.

First of all, initials only in the log please and bring your own SHARP writing instrument. Also be careful when rolling the tiny paper back up.

To find this itty bitty geocache you will need to start at the Waterloo Public Library’s front steps. The coordinate for this page will put you close to the starting point. From there you will begin gathering information that will allow you to calculate the coordinate of the cache.

(I) Your first task will be to find, just inside the door of the library, the date that I masked out of this image. It is visible through the door even when it’s locked. Record that date as A .

(II) Locate the place where I took this. According to a calculation I made using two waypoints and FizzyCalc, it is 449 feet from the place of the library photo. I’m not providing any azimuths or cardinal directions so it’ll be up to you to locate the sites without knowing which direction to go. Once site two is found, record the number of times the letter that is obviously not modern, is used in the script; call it B. This engraving uses a style that came about in the Middle Ages. It looks elegant now. The words that contain that letter have been masked in the script photo linked above.

(III) Now find this. It’s around 143 feet from the engraving. Once found enter the glass door (it has been open every time I stop by) and record two things, the year engraved in the corner stone taken from the original building at this site (make it C) and the year the two historic figures first forded the Cedar River at this location. Consider that date as the letter D.

(IV) From where did I get this perspective? It’s only 79 feet from the door where you just were. Notice that there are window openings that you pass on the way to this spot. Count how many you are from the southernmost place on the bridge. Include the opening that you are looking out of. Record that number as the letter E.

(V) Locate the Gordy Watters brick. He is my father-in-law, now in heaven. The brick location directory that you should seek to find is located 253 feet from the bridge position. [The Watters and Haberstiches that you may see there are blood relatives of my wife’s.] Count the number of bricks that Gordy‘s is from the Cedar River side of the walkway; include his brick in the count. That number will be the letter F.

(VI) Find the place where this is located. It is about 127 feet from Gordy’s brick. What year was that structure built? That date is G.

(VII) Finally go back to Lady Liberty (174 feet away) and record the date on the plaque on the westward side of the statue. It’ll be H.

Here’sa nifty online calculator that will show the parenthesis that you type in so you can be sure the computer did enter them.

Now calculate the part of the coord that I don't give you by using your data in the following two equations.